Obsession
by LillyWright
Summary: Rose Red is gaining power and things start to get more dark and terrifying than ever before... Read here the story of Steve and Ellen Rimbauer in their house Rose Red. Chapter fourteen is up, the end is nearing, and please keep on reviewing!
1. Bad memories, worse ideas

Chapter 1: Bad memories and worse ideas

'Daddy! Come and play football now!'

Steve Rimbauer looked up from his book to find himself face to face with his eldest son.

'Well, ok than, but only for 15 minutes,' he replied with a fake annoyed voice, because he actually loved playing with his children.

Steve Rimbauer was a handsome man of 35 years old. He married to Ellen Branstone already eight years ago. Since that time, they had lived in a small village, near Seattle, in a villa together with their three children. Jake of eight, Kevin of six, and their youngest daughter Emma of nearly three. Here they lived happily, without worrying about money and many other things. This was, because Steve came from a rich family. However, he had never told Ellen much about his history and family.

'Dinner!' came the voice of Ellen from the house practically an hour later.

Steve walked towards the dining room with Jake and Kevin. All of them were quite dirty of having played football for so long.

'You can't sit eating like that!' Ellen said when they arrived there. 'Wash yourselves and be back in five minutes or your dinners will be cold.'

When they came back again, now all clean, Ellen ruffled the boys' hair and gave her husband a kiss.

'Good boys.'

Steve and Ellen sat in their garden, watching their children in the small swimming pool.

'Steve?' Ellen asked quietly.

'Yes?' Steve replied still looking at his children.

'Could you-Could you tell me something about your history?' Ellen asked frightened of his reaction. She had asked this before and the answer always was a new fight between them. Nevertheless, Ellen was so curious what had happened that still she asked it once in a while to see if she did get an answer at that moment.

Steve now looked around to face his wife. He could see the fear in her blue eyes and sighed. He knew that one day he had to tell her anyway. That day could be today, so he did not started to shout, but started his story in a whisper.

'In 1907, John Rimbauer started to build a house in Seattle. This house is still there, and it is the reason for my bad memories. He married a woman, Ellen, and went on a year's honeymoon. Since they came back, but also before that time, strange things happened in the house that they named Rose Red. Women disappeared and men were murdered. About 10 years ago, a mad scientist, Joyce Reardon, asked a few paranormal people and me to visit Rose Red with her. There 4 of them disappeared or were killed. All because Ellen Rimbauer wanted to break hearts as hers was broken, to hurt as she was hurt. Moreover, my mother was an alcoholic, who only went there to steal some valuable stuff.'

When Steve had finished, all Ellen could do was stare at her husband. Finally, after a few minutes she found back her voice.

'I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked, I …'

'Don't. I must have told it to you anyway. So just don't say anything about it, not now, not ever,' Steve interrupted his wife.

Ellen nodded and knew that this was not going to happen. Her curiosity was too strong and it had even increased now she had heard Steve's bad memories.

A few months had passed since Steve had told Ellen about Rose Red. Neither Ellen, nor Steve had mentioned it again. This however, did not mean that Ellen had forgotten about the issue. She still wanted some of her questions answered, but had to grab the courage to ask Steve. So far, this hadn't happened yet. Nevertheless, Ellen thought that it now time for some action. Therefore, she took her change this evening while both of them were sitting in front of the television, while all of the children were to bed.

'What does Rose Red look like?' Ellen started the conversation.

Steve waited a minute before he turned to look at her.

'Why do you want to know?' he asked, looking as serious as Ellen had never seen before.

'I just like to know,' Ellen replied, quasi innocent.

'I bet you're just being curious again,' was Steve's answer to this.

'Excuse me! I'm not curious, I am just interested!' she said angrily.

'For your information then, it is huge, unsafe, and haunted. Further more, it has a garden at the size of a park with many statues. By the way, it has a beautiful stained glass window in the tower with the picture of a blood red rose,' Steve answered, now with a white face of anger and fear.

'Thank you for your kind reply,' Ellen coldly said.

Then there was a minute of silence.

'I'm sorry.'

'It's not your fault; I just don't feel like talking about it as you know. I'm going to bed.'

'Eh … Goodnight.'

'See you tomorrow.'

When Steve woke up the next morning, Ellen had already gone to her work in Seattle. He wondered what had awoken him, but he soon found out. His son's were already awake and definitely not sleepy anymore. By the sound of it, they were playing something that included running and a lot of screaming. After looking at his alarm clock, he came out of his bed. It was already eight o'clock and the children had to be at school at half past eight.

'Could you please be a bit quieter? Daddy is not yet awake,' he said when he came past his two running sons on the landing.

'Oh, ok dad.'

As soon as he had brought all his three children safely to school, he went to his study and sat down behind his computer. There he got a message of a new e-mail. Wondering what it could be about, he opened it.

Dear Steve (it read),

I'm sorry I upset you last night. I don't know what came over me to ask it in such an unkind way. I hope that you'll forgive me. Nevertheless, we will not be finished on the subject. Today, I'm going to see if I can find that Rose Red of yours and if I can arrange something for us to take a look over there. I won't force you to join me on that trip, but I'd be happy if you were able to leave the past behind and for once do what I like. You'll hear the results tonight. Love, Ellen –xxx-

Steve's mind was oddly blank after he had read this disturbing mail. His memories might be bad, but this idea was even worse. Wasn't she touched about the stories he had told her? He hadn't forgot to mention the deaths and disappearances, so what was she on about. Ellen wouldn't get to the idea to go and live there, or was that her intention after all? Not at all feeling relaxed anymore, Steve turned of his computer. As soon as Ellen came home, he would talk this ridiculous plan out of her head. At least, he would try to.

Chapter 2: The nightmare begins


	2. The nightmare begins

Chapter 2: The nightmare begins

Steve indeed tried to talk the plan out of Ellen's head, but it didn't work whatsoever. Ellen's plans were indestructible. She had now arranged that they became the true owners of Rose Red and that they were going to live there. Steve tried everything to stop this all from happening, he even begged her on his knees to do this not. Still Rose Red would become his new home. Ellen made sure, that one day before them, all the furniture had been placed in the house in their right positions. Therefore, Steve now stood in front of the house that he so deeply feared and loathed. It was a grey day and it had already drizzled from the moment Steve woke up. His children were running around in the enormous grounds of Rose Red. Steve however, called them back.

'Jake, Kevin, Emma! Stay near us! Or you might not only get lost,' he added quietly, so his wife next to him wouldn't hear it.

Ellen however, thought Steve called them back for a very different reason.

'Good thinking Steve, now we can tell them about their new rooms.'

'Great.'

'Did you say something dear?' Ellen said not looking at her husband, but still staring at the mansion like she was obsessed with it.

'No, no noting,' Steve said hastily.

In the mean time, the children had already arrived next to them and stood waiting eagerly to hear about their new grand home. Ellen now finally tore her eyes of Rose Red and looked at her children.

'I hope that all of you are very pleased that this is going to be your new home. There is more, listen, I've another little surprise for you: you will all get not only a large room for yourself, but also a whole wing with playrooms and so on just for the three of you!'

'Wow! Cool mom!' Jake said looking longingly at the house like he couldn't wait to see all of it.

'Go and have a look then!' Ellen said like she could read the minds of her children.

'Whose last to enter is a fat elephant!' Kevin shouted and ran towards the front doors, followed at his heels by Jake. Emma, who still had small legs, entered a minute after them. Then a certain thought struck Steve and told this to his wife.

'Ellen dear, have you realised that John and Ellen only had two children, and we three. So we have a bedroom short for them in the children's wing.'

'Of course I have thought about that! Therefore, I have arranged that the whole wing will be rebuilt. When it is finished, it will be bigger, and there will be enough space for the three of them,' Ellen said staring at Rose Red once more.

Steve didn't know what to reply to this. He did think many things, but didn't dare to say them in front of his now so obsessed wife and therefore asked something very different.

'Shall we go in too?'

Ellen nodded, grabbed his arm and they walked into the first room of Rose Red, the Great Hall. Steve gasped. Nothing had changed in the house. Everything looked like an exact copy of the picture that was burned on his retina. The only difference was the painting that hung under the Great Stairway, this was not the old Ellen Rimbauer, but the Ellen that was standing next to him.

The children were now running around in the house in and out of its many chambers. Suddenly, Emma gave a shriek.

'Help! Help! Everything has turned upside down! Mommy!'

Steve run towards the voice of his frightened daughter, but Ellen walked calmly. Jake and Kevin also came out of their rooms to see what was happening.

All of them now stood in the same room as Emma, in which everything was indeed turned upside down.

'Wow, we are walking on the ceiling,' Jake said amazed.

'Of course we're not. This is the Perspective Hallway. Everything looks upside down. There are many hidden doors here too and they lead to other parts of the house. We also have a Mirror Library. That is full of mirrors on the ceiling and floor to make it look very big. Shall we go and have a look over there?' Ellen asked, looking pleased that with herself that she knew already so much about the house.

Ellen and the children left the Perspective Hallway, leaving Steve behind alone. Steve knew all these things too, and knew once he had entered the room that there was nothing to be frightened off. Certainly, he had been in this room already many times before when he was young. Not knowing where to go with himself, Steve walked towards Ellen Rimbauer's old bedroom. There he found himself facing his and Ellen's new bedroom. Probably, they both had there own bedroom too, but this was defiantly for the two of them. He walked to the tall windows and got view of a part of the house, including the Solarium. Now, every plant in there looked very dead. However, Ellen would probably make sure that would change soon, for she was so busy with rebuilding the house. Steve walked away from the window and thought by himself that maybe Rose Red wasn't so bad yet. Still, he couldn't have been more wrong to think that.

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'How could you do that without even discussing it with me! This is going to cost us a lot of money!'

A week had now passed since the arrival of Steve, Ellen and the children. Things were getting worse already for a while between Ellen and Steve, but now it was complete mayhem. It wasn't a normal day anymore if they weren't arguing at least five times. Those disagreements were mostly about the small things as usual, but like now about some bigger actions.

'Who cares about that? We have enough for six houses! So what is your problem?' Ellen nearly shouted.

'My problem is that you do everything without discussing it to me!' Steve replied angrily.

'Let me tell you this, times have changed since Ellen Rimbauer first moved in here. Women have rights to and are allowed to do what ever they want! Is that clear?'

'For goodness sake Ellen! That doesn't mean you don't have to discuss anything with me anymore!'

'Shall I all send them back home then?' Ellen said pointing at the row of servants standing lined up in front of them.

'Oh hell, please yourself,' Steve ended and walked out of the room.

Once more angry on Ellen and everything that had to do with Rose Red; Steve went to their bedroom. The bedroom, however, was not anymore theirs, but his. Ellen moved out two days ago, because a new improved one was now being built in one of the wings. At the same time, the children's wing was also being rebuilt. Moreover, they had servants now too, who needed a lot of space. Luckily, that space was still there ready to be used.

After pacing for a while and having mulled things over, Steve thought that maybe it wasn't to bad after all, having servants. He walked towards the window, where he also stood his first day. There he saw something that shocked him deeply. Ellen walked in the back garden with a servant Steve hadn't seen standing in the row, a dark, African woman. Shocked by the new information he looked quickly away at nothing in particular. His look fell by some unknown reason on the Solarium. Once more, he was shocked to see what he saw. Ellen had told him that the Solarium would be the last thing to be renovated. Nevertheless, Steve could clearly see the new green leaves on most of the plants. Rose Red was awake yet again and more hungry than ever before.

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'Steve, Steve! Where are you?' a panicked voice shouted through Rose Red two days later.

Scared by the note of panic in the voice of his wife, Steve quickly stood up and walked towards the producer of the sound. He found her and the servants in the Great Hall, all of them with white, frightened faces.

'Ellen dear, what's wrong?' he asked quickly.

'It-It's terrible. O-one of the s-s-servants … is m-missing,' Ellen stuttered.

Steve thinking it wasn't wise to ask his wife more about this, he turned towards the remaining servants.

'Can someone please tell me who is missing, since when, where it has happened and who was the last to the him or her?' Steve asked trying to remain calm.

A small, pretty, young girl stepped forward.

'Yes?' Steve said friendly.

'I was last to see her, Sukeena. She is missing for a few hours and it has probably happened in the Solarium.'

'In groups of three, begin a search through the whole house. Please make sure the children know nothing about this happening and don't call the police. No one is going to know about this, except the ones present here in the room,' Steve said and then turned to his wife to calm her down.

Chapter 3: Some answers, but more questions


	3. Some answers, but more questions

Chapter 3: Some answers, but more questions

Steve was sitting alone in his bedroom behind his desk that was set in front of one of the windows. Another four days had passed, but Sukeena was nowhere to be found. Rose Red was now the home of the Rimbauer family for thirteen days. Steve, as being a little superstitious, hoped that nothing would happen today. However, he had little confidence in that. They had lived here now for nearly two weeks and already so much had happened. Ellen lived in her own world now and talked to nobody, except for the fact that she had started a diary. Steve knew this because when he was looking for her one day, he had seen it lying open on her desk. Steve still disliked that fact that she had brought him here, but did feel a bit worried now too. A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.

'Come in,' he said, wondering who it could be.

In came the young girl that had stepped forward a few days ago and told him that she was the last to see the now missing servant Sukeena.

'Close the door,' Steve demanded.

She closed the door and remained standing in front of it.

'Sit down,' Steve said, pointing at another chair.

She sat down and looked at her feet, while her hands in her lap weren't lying still.

Steve thought it was better to be a bit nicer to her, if he wanted to get the full story out of her, which was probably about the happening of four days earlier.

'Would you like a drink?' he asked friendly.

She shook her head, which was still pointing at her feet.

'Can you then please tell me why you came to my bedroom or at least what your name is?'

'My name is Corrine. And … and I'd like to tell you the truth about the missing of Sukeena,' she whispered, looking in my eyes now. Her eyes were big, blue, and shinning with tears.

Steve felt himself drowning in those eyes.

'Please go on,' he heard himself saying.

'She told me that your wife, Ellen, wasn't being nice to her. She hated Ellen and hoped that when she didn't do her work good that Ellen would sent her away. That same evening, Ellen sent Sukeena to the tower, because everyone was too scared to go there. However, Sukeena never came back. Ellen does now think it's her fault and servants have even heard her talking to herself about suicide.'

This awoke Steve at once out of his trance.

'She is talking about what?'

'Suicide, sir.'

'Yes, I heard you the first time. Please leave my room, now!'

'But sir, I know how to help you,' Corrine said now with a firm voice.

Steve sat down again, while he couldn't remember standing up.

'All right then, tell me.'

'My mother has been a servant here as well, when it was still the home of John Rimbauer and his wife Ellen. She has told me many things about her time here, and I think it is best if you let a medium visit Ellen, Madame Lu. She lives in Seattle in the China District, you can reach her with this number,' Corrine said hastily, gave Steve a paper with a number and then disappeared.

Steve was left with a feeling he couldn't name and with even more worries. He did have some answers now, but to be honest there were more questions raised. He still doubted if he would contact that Madame Lu, when he was forced to look out of the window that gave view of the Solarium. His heart skipped a beat when he saw what he was looking at. The Solarium was a sea of green plants and at some places coloured with flowers. For now, he didn't care anymore about small things, and grabbed the phone.

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The doorbell rang through the house of Rose Red. While the butler opened the door, Steve came quickly towards it to welcome the guest. The guest was the Chinese Madame Lu. She was very old, very big and something else. For a moment, Steve did nothing but just staring at this strange old lady, then he stepped forward and introduced himself.

'Good afternoon, I'm Steve Rimbauer. I called you, because there are some difficulties with my wife, and I thought you could help.'

'Is her name Ellen?'

'Er, yes,' Steve said taken aback, because he hadn't told her that yet.

'Could you bring me to her?'

'Off course. Henry, bring this dear lady to Ellen.'

Steve followed them to Ellen's room and positioned himself next to the wall. Madame Lu sat down on the ground in the middle of the room. Ellen, who sat in front of a window, turned around when the door closed behind her again. Steve saw that her eyes were red from crying, and a stab of pain went through his heart.

'Ellen Rimbauer, please come and sit in front of me,' the Chinese lady spoke quietly like the wind.

Ellen did what was said and sat down opposite her, still without making any sound.

'Now please tell me, what I already know, but what your husband wants to hear.'

With this, Steve became curious and Ellen sobbed. Then Ellen began to speak at last.

'Horrible things have happened here. Worse than the staff and Steve know about. During the rebuilding of the children's wing, a man was murdered. Two of them had an argument; suddenly one of them grabbed a screwdriver and pushed it in the other man's eye. He died instantly, because the screwdriver hit his brains.'

Ellen fell silent now. However, Madame Lu urged her to go on. Steve didn't want to know more, this was too horrible. This could not have happened in the same house where he lived and his children played. Nevertheless, Ellen got to her voice again.

'I have never told Steve that I was pregnant for ten weeks already when my dear maid Sukeena disappeared. Due to shock, I got a miscarriage. I felt so horrible and thought all of it was my fault. Therefore, I have started writing a diary. To free my soul and refresh my mind, just like Ellen Rimbauer.'

Madame Lu was clearly satisfied with this information and got up.

'Now Ellen, your dear husband will understand everything and there's no need for you to stop talking anymore or plan any other thing that you'll later regret.'

Ellen seemed to awake out of a trance and looked around her as if she had never seen the room clearly before. Then she saw Madame Lu and at last Steve. She jumped up, run to him and nearly flattened him with hugs and kisses.

'Oh Steve, how could I have ever thought that you would hate me and never understand me. I love you so much, please forgive me.'

'Off-off course I'll forgive you. But please, please tell me everything and I'll never hate you or let you down,' Steve replied with tears in his eyes too.

Finally, half an hour later, Steve brought Madame Lu to the door once more. There however, she did not go away at once.

'Steve, this will be a shock for you as well, but Ellen is not cured now. Ellen is possessed by the ghost of old Ellen Rimbauer. Ellen will do everything she is told to without knowing she has done it. For now, she is safe, but Ellen Rimbauer will come back and take her over once more. I cannot help you then, because Ellen Rimbauer is too strong. Then please call Madame Stravinski, she can help, but not often is she here in Seattle. Rose Red is awake again and wants more then before. Watch Ellen carefully and do not build any further! Rose Red is not yet at full strength, but she's awake and with Ellen Rimbauer, it's more dangerous. Ellen is becoming obsessed, because she is possessed. Stop her in time and don't do everything she wants. When in big trouble, call Madame Stravinski,' Madame Lu ended pointing at the note she had given Steve. Then she walked to the car and drove away.

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Steve and Ellen had a good time for a while together with the children as Christmas was nearing. Everything went as it had to and there were no more disappearances or murders. However, there were some things that were bothering Steve. Like some answers, he got from Madame Lu, but at the same time the questions that were once more raised.

In February, the new grand bedroom for both Steve and Ellen was finished. The children's wing was also half way. With spring entering the world, Steve and Ellen also had their best time. Their children, which where now all going to school went to the next class with high grades. Rose Red seemed to have given up, while Steve and Ellen couldn't have had a better life. However, somewhere in Steve's head a small voice kept on whispering. It's fake, it will go wrong again, and Rose Red is not a dead cell.

Chapter 4: Ellen Rimbauer returns


	4. Death at the doorstep

Chapter 4: Death at the doorstep

It was June 17th. The children's wing was finished and finally all the builders were gone. Nothing remarkable had happened until now. Ellen however, seemed to have noticed this and therefore made up an idea. She thought this was the time to tell Steve and ask about his opinion.

'Steve dear,' she started kissing him on the cheek.

'Yes,' he mumbled.

'Wouldn't it be a good idea to get to know a bit more people here in the area?'

'Probably,' Steve replied uninterested, kissing Ellen.

'You know, by throwing a party, an inaugural, like John and Ellen did.'

'What!' Steve said, sitting upright at once. 'Never.'

'Come on Steve! It will be good for us to have some fun and we get to know more people, because we know no one here in the area. I can never visit anyone and I am starting to get a bit bored. We'll throw the party at the 16th of January, one day after John and Ellen did. Please Steve; give me something to look forward to and to make me happy.'

Steve wanted nothing more then making his wife happy, but doing what his grandmother had done years ago was something totally different. He didn't want all those things to happen all over again.

'Steve, what could be wrong about just giving a party?' Ellen asked him, as if she could read his mind.

'Nothing, I guess…'

'Please Steve. I'll ask nothing more, just the party,' Ellen pleaded.

'Well, all right then,' Steve said with not too much enthusiasm.

'Thank you dear, I love you,' Ellen said and kissed him passionately.

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Ellen was most of the days now busy with organising their inaugural. She left the children to play with themselves and acted as if Steve was part of the house. When he said something about this, all he got was an snappy retort. Therefore, Steve was quite surprised when Ellen came one evening into his bedroom wearing nothing but a transparent nightgown.

'Ellen, what…'

'Shh,' Ellen whispered placing a finger over his mouth. Then she kissed him.

'Mommy?'

Ellen shot upright at once. Steve also looked up. In the doorway stood the five-year-old Emma.

'Sweetheart, what are you doing all the way here? Why didn't you go to your nanny?' Ellen asked her.

'There was no one anywhere,' she replied with tears in her eyes.

'What has happened Emma?' Steve firmly asked.

'I was going to get a glass of water, but then I got lost. Everything looked so different and it was all a lot bigger and the stairs was so long that I couldn't even see the bottom,' Emma said sobbing.

'But sweetie, houses can't change that fast. You know that, don't you? Maybe you had just a bad dream,' Ellen said to calm her down and gave her a hug.

'And on the way I saw a lady just like you mommy, but she looked very old,' Emma told, nodding to reinforce her statement.

For one second, Steve thought to see a shiver of fear in Ellen's eyes. However, she acted normally.

'It was almost certainly just a dream. Now, I'll call Jessica here to come and get you. She'll give you your glass of water and then put you to bed again. Alright?'

'Ok,' Emma said and gave her mother a kiss.

After a minute or so, Jessica came and took Emma with her to put her back in bed. Nevertheless, their moment was spoiled. Ellen made that even clearer.

'Wouldn't it be a good idea to put the three of them to a boarding school? We would have the whole house to ourselves and we will never be interrupted any more,' she said seriously to Steve.

'Are you serious?' Steve replied shocked.

'Do I look like I'm serious?'

'Unfortunately, yes you do.'

'Unfortunately?' she repeated angrily and then stormed out of Steve's bedroom.

Steve remained sitting upright for a moment and then dropped himself on the bed once more, hoping next morning to awake and leaving this all behind like a dream, or nightmare.

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The next morning, during breakfast, the nightmare, unfortunately for him, went on.

'Have you thought about my idea Steve? To put the children to a boarding school.'

'No, I haven't because I do not agree with it,' Steve said idly.

'Think about the freedom it would give us,' Ellen tried.

'My answer is not going to change.'

'You're just like John Rimbauer! Rule number one: never do what ever your wife says or even listen to her. Well, guess what, just like Ellen, I will do what ever it takes to get what I want to!' Again, this time prepared for it, Ellen stormed away and left Steve sitting alone, this time at breakfast.

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Ellen now totally ignored Steve. If he had to be honest, Steve didn't really mind it, but it was because of his children that Steve did care. Now all the three children were a bit older, they all noticed what was going on between him and Ellen. This seemed to have a negative effect on them too. They became moody, didn't want to listen anymore and at school things were getting worse as well. All of this was starting to get on Steve's nerves. Therefore, one evening he called Corrine, with her big, blue and shinny eyes, to his bedroom. Steve didn't know why he had actually called her, but he had the feeling that this was the best to do. A shy knock hit the door.

'Come in,' Steve said, expecting Corrine.

However, in the doorway stood Ellen.

'Ellen!' Steve said surprised.

'Why did you call her?'

'Why did I call who?' Steve said, wondering how Ellen could know about his meeting with Corrine.

'You know who I mean, pretty girl Corrine. Did you call her to do something for you? To give you the love I don't give you anymore. Well, she won't be coming tonight,' Ellen said pleased.

'What have you done to her?' Steve replied angrily now.

'Do I see a flicker of fear in your eyes? Between all the hate.'

'Tell me where she is,' he said with a firm voice.

'All right then, she's locked in the tow…'

A scream interrupted Ellen's answer. Ellen's face turned at once from pleased to panic.

Steve run out of the room passed Ellen, out of Rose Red, until he reached the point in the garden where he stood exactly under the tower with its beautiful stained-glass window. However, the window was now in a thousand pieces laying spread everywhere. On the ground in front of him, lay Corrine, still, white and cold. Steve run back to the house to get the staff together and make sure his children didn't have to see this.

He had the staff quickly together, because all of them had heard Corrine's scream. After giving certain orders, of which one was to let the police definitely not know, Steve together with some of the staff went to the place where Corrine lay. However, Corrine's body had disappeared. The grass was still flat of her bodyweight, but the body itself had suddenly disappeared.

'I'm sure she was here, ten minutes ago,' Steve said bewildered.

'Where is Mrs. Ellen?' one of the maids suddenly said.

Steve had totally forgotten his wife. There followed another scream now coming from the inside of Rose Red.

'Ellen!' Steve cried, and after that, everything became total darkness.

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'Steve.'

Steve tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids felt too heavy.

'Steve,' the voice said again.

Steve opened his eyes a little. All he saw was white and somewhere near him sat a woman. Then everything became dark once more.

The next time Steve woke up, everything looked a lot clearer. He was laying in a room, which was probably, no definitely in a hospital. He was only just awake when a nurse came in to check on him.

'Finally awake I see, Mr. Rimbauer,' she said with a soft and friendly voice.

'Yes, I – What happened? I don't remember anything. How long have I been here already?' Steve asked confused.

'Please stay calm. You were in shock for four days. Your wife has brought you here and has visit you everyday.'

'Ellen,' he mumbled and suddenly the memories hit him like a hammer. Corrine dead, Ellen's scream, the body that had disappeared. 'Is she alright, my wife Ellen?'

'Yes, there's nothing wrong with her,' she said looking at him concerned.

'Ok then,' Steve said, feeling sleepy again.

'You have to rest again, you'll be waked up when your wife comes to visit you,' the nurse said.

'Oh, alright then.' Blackness then got hold of him and he was lost in his dreams.


	5. End of all hope

Chapter 5: End of all hope

Steve was walking through a corridor of what appeared to be a very big house. It was probably night, because everything was covered in a blanket of darkness. He went up a stairs and came on the next landing with the same dark corridors. Steve wondered what he was doing here and decided to look out of a window to see whether he could determinate where he was. He held his breath when he did so. Out of the window, he saw a solarium full a blossoming plants, which looked horribly like the ones at Rose Red. However, he knew it didn't only look like it, he knew he was in Rose Red. The next thing he saw nearly made him scream. There hanging on a rope from a tree was he, himself. He had clearly hung himself there. Then he did scream, as a cold and pearl white hand grabbed his shoulder.

'Steve! Steve, listen to me!'

Steve opened his eyes and stopped screaming once he heard himself. He was strapped in his white blankets and his nose nearly touched that of his wife's. Nurses were running into the room to see what had happened. Steve dropped himself back into the cushions again and sighed. Meanwhile Ellen turned to face the bewildered nurses and explained them what had happened. They all eyed Steve with a look of sadness and then went away once more. Ellen turned to Steve and sat down next to his bed.

'Steve,' she started now calmly, 'We must talk. I have just talked to the doctors and we have agreed that you should go home now. Every night you keep awake the other patients with your screaming and it's not good for them, but neither for you. The best way for you to relax is in your house, our house, in Rose Red.'

Steve was still too tired to reply, even though they were all wrong. He didn't need, didn't want to go back. The only thing in the whole world that wasn't good for him was going back to Rose Red, because there death awaited him. They just didn't understand that his nightmares were about going back to the only house he ever dared to call home.

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There he was, once again trapped in the giant walls of the house. The doctors said he should stay at least one more week in bed and nothing was allowed but sleep, eat and read. The thing that annoyed him most was the fact that out of the window he had view of the Solarium. Another thing that was bothering him was the thing of not knowing anything, because he still didn't know what had happened after he passed out. Why did Ellen scream, had they found the body and everything else that could have happened? Therefore, after laying there in his bed for only two days of thinking and guessing, he decided it was time to ask all those things to his wife. She would hopefully take it all right and didn't get angry or anything else with him.

'Ellen, may I ask you something?' he started once she had walked in to bring his lunch.

At first, she acted as if she hadn't heard him, but when she had put down his lunch next to him, she sat down. She stared at the ground and sighed, as if she knew this had been coming. Then she looked up again in his eyes. Steve could see that she was fighting back her tears with great difficulty. At that moment, she started her story.

'I know you are going to ask me about the night of a week ago. I'll tell you everything, but please do not interrupt me. I'll start at the beginning with Corrine and the suspicion I had for what was going on between you two. I noticed that you were looking at her more often, then you looked at me and your thoughts were always flowing in her direction. At some point, something inside me cracked and I decided that I had to stop this before something really happened between you two. For me it was the end of all hope. Therefore, I watched the staff closely and once I heard that you had called for her, she was up the tower before she knew it. I had simply told her that I needed something from there and up she went without any fear after what had happened to Sukeena. Then I closed the door. She begged me to let her out and that she didn't want to interfere between you and me. She cried many tears and nearly screamed when I went away. Next, I hurried off to your room, when we heard her terrified scream and I thought it couldn't be true. You went away to see what had happened and left me all alone standing in your bedroom. Following thing I know was that I sat with you in the ambulance and in the hospital. Finally, back here in Rose Red all other things still had to be done and for now you were away, I had to do everything. The children, the staff, everyone was confused and in the house it was pandemonium. Again all the hope within me was gone and I thought we could never life here in peace. This however, will be a story for tomorrow because you need rest and you have to sleep now.'

It took Steve a few seconds before he realised that Ellen had gotten up and was walking towards the door.

'No Ellen wait, please tell me or I won't be able to sleep at all. Please don't leave me.'

Ellen turned her head and looked deep in Steve's eyes, who looked back determinately. It worked, because Ellen was walking towards the bed again. She took a sip of his glass of water, sighed once more and sat down.

'The body of Corrine has never been found again, but I made sure that it was as you wished and nobody alerted the police. Your other wish however, has not been for filled. Jake had clearly heard some of the staff talk about the happening and told me he want to leave the house and go to boarding school. If we didn't agree with him, he said he'd leave us himself. I told him we'd agree and he will leave next month. However, I made him swear he wouldn't tell anyone about what he knows and so I did with the staff. They know that if they tell anyone that they'll be fired and I'll make sure they never get hired anywhere anymore. That's all to tell I think.'

Steve's head did indeed start to get light, but there was one more thing Ellen hadn't told him and that he'd like to know.

'Why did you scream when I was gone to look what had happened to Corrine? You said the next thing you knew was that you were in the ambulance, but I'm sure you do know why you screamed at that moment.'

Ellen now defiantly looked away from his eyes and replied in a much quieter voice.

'I saw something that I couldn't have seen.'

Steve kept on looking at her, but it looked like Ellen wasn't intending to tell anything else. Therefore, Steve tried again, because he wanted to know what she'd seen.

'Ellen you can tell me, I'll believe you. I promise.'

A tear fell on the bedspread when Ellen opened her mouth to go on with her story in a whisper.

'I – I saw out of your window the Solarium and in there were no plants, but people. All transparent people of whom I've seen on old pictures that I've found here in the house. However, that was not everything; they seemed to be standing in a circle around something. Then a few of them made way and I could see what was there. There was a little girl, crying over her red-haired doll. She looked remarkably like Emma, only she had a shrunken arm. Next to the girl was another body of a young woman, covered in blood and shiny pieces of coloured glass…'

There now fell a silence, which was broken by Steve.

'April.'

'What did you say?' Ellen said looking surprised at Steve.

'The girl with the shrunken arm that you saw, was April. April was John and Ellen Rimbauer's daughter. She has disappeared in this house too.'

Ellen looked horrified by this new piece of information.

'Don't worry Ellen, will survive. I promise you with my whole heart that this house is not the end of all hope, we'll make it the house that it is supposed to be. Full of laughter and friends, starting with a inaugural in January,' Steve said.

Ellen gave him a weak smile and kissed him on the cheek.

'Now you have to sleep, sweet dreams,' Ellen told Steve and stood up.

Steve nodded, because he suddenly felt very sleepy. If he had just his eyes open a little bit longer, he could have seen how Ellen walked out of the room with a grin on her face looking happier then ever before. Rose Red was celebrating with her, because the Solarium was filled with beautiful flowers even though it was already September.

Chapter 6: A new 'shocking' beginning


	6. A found in the attic

Chapter 6: A found in the attic

Finally, nearly a month later after all the happenings, Steve was allowed to get out of bed and start doing things other than sleeping, eating and reading. Steve and his wife were in a better mood than they had ever been before, and it seemed that even the weather was celebrating with them. Everything went the way they wanted, except for the fact the Jake left the house and wasn't going to return for a whole year. The only one, who seemed really sad about this, was Emma. Emma had always been a happy energetic girl. Now however, a smile on her face was far to be found and mostly during the day she sat quietly in a room staring in to nothingness. Both Steve and Ellen tried to talk to her, but she didn't utter a single word. Still it didn't grab a lot of attention, for they were now so busy with the inaugural. The staff also seemed to have done as Ellen told them, because Corrine was never mentioned again under the roof of Rose Red.

'Ellen have you already invited the Masons over for the inaugural?' Steve asked.

'No, I'm still busy with the invitations. By the way, have you already alerted the company that we only want red wine and no white?' Ellen replied, while counting the invitations she had already written and addressed.

'Yes dear, I've done that a few days ago,' Steve said walking over to Ellen with a block note in his hand writing down things that still needed to be done.

'Oh, and before I forget, where do we leave the children in the evening?'

Steve looked up at her. 'Well, I think we could easily leave them in the children's wing. It is big enough for them and they won't hear the noise we make, because it is far away from the Great Hall. Furthermore, the nanny can stay with them the rest of the evening and night.'

'I do know all of that, but I just don't trust it to leave it with just one maid and we need all the help from the staff we can get already with serving,' Ellen answered, sounding a bit annoyed about being interrupted again. 'Damn, now I lost count again!'

'All right, I'll have a look in the newspaper to see if I can find another nanny or two,' Steve said sighing.

'No, because those people will have never been here before then and they will lose the way in this house. No, I think it is best if we then leave them with our one and only nanny,' Ellen said, stretching the word only.

Steve decided not to react on this and just turned around, walked out of the room and went further with the preparations for the 16th of January.

----------

It was the 15th of January and Rose Red was bussing with people running around the house all carrying different things. Men were shouting, Ellen was yelling a five people at once and Steve, still not allowed to do much, was reading in the pink room of Emma. Emma was sitting on the ground playing with her dolls softly talking to no one in particular.

Emma's mood hadn't changed around the time that had now passed. She was as silent as ever and didn't show any sign of joy that she was supposed to feel. Steve did worry quite a lot about it at night, but during the day, he forgot everything about it, because Ellen was asking for his full attention all the time. She was exactly the opposite of her seven-year-old daughter. Ellen never stopped talking, was so active that it was sometimes even annoying and a smile that was never fading away.

'Daddy, I need a house for Annie,' Emma suddenly said in a very clear voice.

Steve needed a few seconds to come out of his shock, and then tried to look into his daughter's eyes. Emma however, was sitting with her back towards him.

'Who is Annie?' Steve asked.

'My doll,' she answered simply.

'I'll give you one for your birthday, is that all right?' Steve said trying to keep her talking.

'I need it now,' Emma replied in the same clear voice. 'May I have the one that is here in the attic?'

'If there is one, you can have it, but I will have a look then in two days, because we're a bit busy now, sweetheart,' Steve said, wondering if there actually was a dollhouse in the attic.

'But you are just sitting here reading now, and I need it really today.'

'I know, but downstairs and in the other parts of the house everyone is now busy, so I can't just go there. I promise you that in two days it will also still be there,' Steve answered a bit annoyed now, but at the same time his mind was worried.

'Kevin is running towards here, he found something in the attic,' Emma now said still without moving.

Steve didn't even have time to reply, because only a second later, Kevin came bursting into the room. He was red in the face and all sweaty from running all the way through the house.

'Dad! Come, you've got to see what I have found in the attic!'

----------

Steve stood up, shot one last look at Emma and then tore out of the room with Kevin on his heels. Many thoughts went through his head while he was running in the house filled with people. Why did Emma all of a sudden need that dollhouse? How could she have known what Kevin had just found? Moreover, how come she named the doll Annie? Annie was a thirteen year old girl that was there when Steve went into Rose Red to see if it had hidden powers together with some other people who had a sixth sense. That trip didn't end up to well, for at least four persons had died during it. Annie had survived, but still. Was Emma maybe given unknown powers? He made a mental note to contact Annie as soon as possible, so that would be tomorrow after a long night.

'Steve, why are you…' Ellen started to ask when he came rushing by.

'Later!' he shouted without looking back.

Finally, after what seemed like an hour, Steve and Kevin reached the stairs that leaded to the attic and tower.

'What have you found, Kevin? Where is it?' Steve asked, going out of the way so his youngest son could lead the way.

'Follow me,' Kevin said eagerly.

They went through the attic, which was still full of old things from Ellen and John's time, past the now locked door that lead to the tower and into a little corner that Steve had never noticed before. Full of surprise Steve waited for a moment to look at it a bit better. The corner was totally obscured by some great portraits and a few old curtains. He could imagine he would have not noticed it before and had just walked past it many times.

'C'mon dad, don't hesitate!' Kevin yelled. He sounded muffled as if he was in-between the walls.

Steve tore his eyes away and went after his son in a small passage, which was so narrow that it was unable for him to turn around if he wanted to. He wasn't claustrophobic, but in here, he did feel slightly closed in. He could still here his son's footsteps in front of him, though he didn't see him. At the same time, Steve was also again surprised, because he knew there should have been some passages between the rooms, but it now folded itself out as a total network. However, he only saw a small bit, because soon enough his son was in front of him again and looked upwards a narrow staircase.

'It's up here, dad. This leads to a door after which the room comes that I found,' Kevin whispered.

'Alright then, let's go,' Steve whispered back, while he felt a cold wind pass his back.

They walked up the stairs, Kevin opened the door, he entered the room and Steve followed him. Then he gasped and stared around at what now stood before his eyes.

----------

'Is anybody here? Can someone tell me where my husband is?' Ellen asked while she entered a room in the children's wing. 'Oh, it's only you,' she said when she spotted Emma.

'Yes, but I do know where he is and Kevin as well,' Emma spoke with her back to Ellen.

Ellen did a double take and turned back again at once to start staring at her daughter's hair.

'You … You just … How do you … Where are they?' Ellen now asked in a politer voice.

'Somewhere in the attic, Kevin found something. I guess you know what,' Emma added.

A flash of fear seemed to flicker in Ellen's eyes, though it didn't last longer then a second. She soon recovered and decided to ignore Emma's last sentence.

'Brilliant, both of them gone and the inaugural is going to begin in less than half an hour. For goodness sake, Steve!' Ellen said angrily and stormed out of the room again.

However, before she was all well gone, she met Steve and Kevin already both fully dressed for the evening. Steve in his best suit looking very handsome and Kevin ready to go to bed within an hour or two.

'Yes sweetheart, what is wrong?' Steve asked.

'Uhm, nothing. No everything is fine. Let's go downstairs and Kevin go to fetch the nanny and make sure nothing happens to your sister. Take care and till tomorrow,' Ellen said taken aback and kissed Kevin on his cheek.

'I can hear our first guests already, let's go and greet them darling,' Steve said pleasantly, took Ellen by her arm and gave her a kiss.

Ellen smiled and walked with him to the beautiful decorated Great Hall.

Chapter 7: The inaugural


	7. The Inaugural

Chapter 7: The inaugural

'Hello, welcome to Rose Red.'

Steve and Ellen were now already standing more than an hour next to the door through which people kept on coming. Steve's legs were starting to ache and he felt hungry. Ellen also looked a bit tired of standing and willing to get away from the door. This could also be due to the cold, because she was wearing a thin silk dress that probably didn't give a lot of warmth. A little while later, they got to hear that all the guests had now arrived, so they were free to go. Inside the house, the buzz of talking could be heard through the music played by a life orchestra. People were laughing, sipping from their red wines and every while eating from the delicious food waiters were serving non-stop. Soon already, Ellen and Steve were separated both talking to different guests. Steve sometimes did glimpse Ellen at a distance and she certainly seemed to have a good time. He was glad about this, because Ellen had had enough trouble already here in Rose Red and she deserved a good party.

'Steve! What are you doing here?' a voice interrupted his thoughts.

In front of him stood a man of his age wearing a tuxedo, holding a glass of wine and his face shining with happiness.

'Well, I life here with my wife Ellen and we organised this party to get to know the people in the neighbourhood a bit better,' Steve replied, thinking hard where he had seen the man before.

'Really? That's amazing. Don't you recognise me anymore?' the man now asked laughing at Steve's puzzled expression.

Suddenly it hit Steve like a hammer. Of course, he knew that man; it was Emery Waterman. He was here as well when they were investigating Rose Red's hidden powers about ten years with Joyce Reardon. However, his appearance had changed a lot during the period. He had lost much weight and he somehow looked younger than he did then.

'Emery, goodness I didn't recognise you like this. You have changed so much. I could better ask what you are doing here, I mean you don't have good memories about it I guess,' Steve said smiling.

'No, not a single good memory. Nevertheless, I life here nearby and I wanted to see which idiot bought the house,' Emery simply answered.

'Well thanks; it looks like I'm that idiot.'

'No offence, but I just wondered, I mean everyone here know the history that it conceals and many people were doubting if they were going because of that,' Emery said.

'Somehow, I can imagine that,' Steve said sarcastically.

'Anyway, I got to go again, see if I can find my wife back.'

'All right then, nice seeing you again, Emery,' Steve said.

'Nice seeing you too, bye,' Emery said disappearing into the crowd.

----------

Steve had a very good evening further on too. He danced with Ellen, laughed about jokes that were made, drunk a little bit too much wine and talked to everyone who was there. He forgot about all the trouble they had had, the ghost of Ellen Rimbauer and about the fact that Ellen didn't act like herself lately. However, tonight nothing seemed wrong and both of them were having the time of their lives. Even the guests seemed to have forgotten that they were actually celebrating in the haunted mansion of Rose Red.

Steve was just dancing very closely with Ellen, when someone tugged his shirt from below. He looked around wildly, before he noticed Emma who stood next to him, still holding on to his shirt. He let go of Ellen, took Emma by her hand and led her away from the inaugural. Ellen first only stared at them walking away and then went after them quickly. Finally, in a quiet hallway, they stopped walking.

'Emma, why are you here? You should be asleep for hours already. How come the nanny let you go away?' Steve asked her quietly.

'Someone has fainted; she is up at the second floor near the mirror library. I think she lost her way while going to the bathroom. The nanny was away to get a drink in the kitchen with the other servants. Thank you for the new dollhouse as well, daddy,' Emma said in one breath, talking hardly any louder than a bear whisper.

'Which new…?' Steve started to ask.

Then Ellen came bursting through the door, looking bewildered at Emma.

'Why is she here?' she asked Steve shortly.

'Don't worry Ellen, she just had a nightmare and I'll bring her back to bed. You can go back to the guests to see if they are still enjoying themselves,' he answered her straight back.

Emma did look at him a little surprised, but didn't ask for the reason he just told Ellen a downright lie.

'All right, and make sure the nanny doesn't let the children escape again. They were supposed to stay in their wing and not wander here,' she said curtly, then turned around and closed the door with a snap.

Steve sighed. He got a bit tired of the changes of emotions his wife had lately. One moment to another, she could totally change.

'Are you still coming daddy, because we need to get to the woman before she gets lost again,' Emma asked quietly.

'Come on then sweetie, lets get you back into bed first,' Steve said, picking up Emma and he carried her to her room. There he put her into bed quickly, kissed her goodnight and noticed while walking out of the room the dollhouse. It was a different dollhouse then he had seen her play with this afternoon. This was a dollhouse, he had seen years ago. It was what Annie had played, while they were on research. It was the dollhouse of Rose Red.

Steve registered this all very quickly and decided to worry about this later, but now first get to the woman before indeed something worse happened to her.

Luckily, he had found her very soon. She was lying on the top stair of the staircase on the second floor and was clearly unconscious. Steve noticed that she had been very lucky to fall not all the way down the stairs. It was a pretty, young woman of around thirty years, in a beautiful lavender blue dress. Steve didn't know who she was exactly, but he knew that he had talked to her in the beginning of the evening.

He got down next to her and started to tap her face softly. After a few seconds, she blinked and tried to open her eyes in the bright light.

'Hey, can you hear me?' Steve asked.

She gave him a small nod.

'Good, do you know who you are and why you are here?' Steve now asked her.

'Yes, my name is Sharon Smith and I was here for the inaugural,' Sharon replied slowly.

'All right, lets get you up then,' Steve said relieved. Gradually, Sharon got to her feet again and they walked to the nearby bathroom, so she could sit down and fresh herself up a bit. After she had finished with this, Steve entered the bathroom and asked her a few more questions of which he was interested to know the answers.

'Do you still remember why you were up here and what the reason was that you fainted?' he therefore asked curiously.

'Well, I had gone to the bathroom and I wanted to get back to the Great Hall. However, I guess I lost my way, because suddenly I was somewhere that didn't look the slightest at the direction where I came from. So I kept on walking, but I didn't come anywhere near the party anymore. Then I … I saw something, or I at least thought I saw something that scared me and furthermore I don't really know what happened,' Sharon ended quietly.

'Can you tell me what you saw, or at least what you think you saw?' Steve asked, at the same time wondering how she couldn't have found her way back. The Great Hall was only a little while away from this bathroom; surely, she would have heard the buzzing of talking and the music playing.

'Uhm, I don't know it was so weird. I guess you won't even believe me,' Sharon said looking down at her feet ashamed.

'Trust me in this house I'd believe everything, even if you told me you had seen an elephant running the corridor,' Steve said sarcastically.

Sharon looked up and smiled at this.

'All right then, I thought I saw many people, all transparent white, walking or more floating here down the stairs. It looked like they were on their way to something, but all of them looked unhappy and some of them looked hurt on both the inside and outside. I think … I think it were ghosts,' she ended quietly, looking at her shoes once more.

A silence followed her story. However, in Steve's mind it was anything but quiet. He was thinking very hard about the information he had just gotten and certainly believed every word she had said. Still some things just didn't make sense yet.

'You don't believe me, do you?' Sharon asked when Steve hadn't spoken after her story and she looked up into his eyes.

'I believe every word you told me, but now, we need to get you out of here as soon as we can,' Steve replied looking deep into her eyes. And his eyes told her that every word of him was true too.

Chapter 8: Aftershocks and new disbelief


	8. Aftershocks and new disbelieve

Chapter 8: Aftershocks and new disbelief

Steve woke up with a shock, like he had just had a nightmare or some loud noise had awoken him. However, he couldn't remember dreaming and the house was filled with silence. He looked at his alarm and saw it was only seven in the morning. He sighed, because it meant that he had only had a few hours sleep and he would be unable to sleep again now. Ellen would probably be asleep for a few more hours and the servants were allowed to have a lie-in today too.

Then an idea sprang to his mind. No one would be walking around the house now, so he could do whatever he wanted. This morning was a great opportunity to go and find out more about the hidden room in the attic. One second after he had decided this, he climbed out of bed, pulled on some cloths still lying in a corner and started heading for the attic. Ten minutes later, he stood in the narrow corridor in front of the door that had held its secret for already many years. He opened it, walked inside, closed it and looked around at everything that filled the room.

All the walls of the room were completely covered with shelves upon shelves holding videotapes, except for the left wall, where there was a little space cleared for some screens and a few recorders taping everything that was happening in the house. The videotapes on the shelves were all labelled telling which camera it was and which time and date. Steve had already watched some of them taken in the period where he had lived here while the were researching the house and even some showing him the real Ellen and John Rimbauer with their children. Shocked he was when he noticed that here were actually many recordings of murders and disappearances, which could be very valuable information for the police. Therefore, he had decided to tell no one about this room and forbidden his son to do so either, because deep inside he wanted to find out Rose Red's secret himself and get a way to end the time of terror. The only thing he was still wondering was how it could have kept on recording every day, while no one came here to change the tapes every so often and keep it all in right order.

For this morning, Steve had decided to watch some of the video's from last night. In this way, he might find out what had happened to Sharon Smith, and may be even something else. Otherwise, at least he had the feeling that he was going to find something useful. He was just searching for the right tape showing him the staircase where he had found Sharon, when he had the feeling that someone was watching him. He turned around but saw nothing had changed and he was still alone in the room.

'Hello? Is anyone here?' Steve asked the empty room.

Thinking he had only imagined, Steve turned back to his search. However, only a few seconds later he turned around again quickly. Again, he had that feeling, and again no one was there. He turned back, grabbed the right tape and put it in a recorder to watch it on one of the screens.

At first, he saw only the stairs, five minutes later nothing had changed. Steve winded the tape to go through it quicker. Finally, after a long time, Sharon appeared into view. She was indeed looking around as though she had lost her way. Then she looked straight into the camera, her eyes filled with fear. However, Steve had barely time to realise this when the tape suddenly turned black.

'Damn, stupid tapes,' Steve muttered, while he tried to get it working again.

After a little time, the screen still showed nothing but darkness even though the timer told him that it must have taped something. However, Steve noticed he did see something. Through all the dark he could see a vague pale white figure, but is was too unclear to make out what or who it was. He sighed and gave up on it.

Steve looked up at the still black screen on which he should have seen nothing but his own reflection. Still that wasn't all; the pale white figure hadn't disappeared. It was still standing behind him, which could only mean that it was really there, right behind him.

He gasped and turned himself around as quickly as he could. There now floating in front of him was no other than the woman he had seen before, here in the same attic. The woman who hunted his nightmares and who tried to capture him in his dreams. It was the pale white ghost from Ellen Rimbauer.

'Steve… Don't try to conquer Rose Red. You know you can't and I can't allow it. Just let yourself in her power and live happily like your wife. Please Steve… Don't do it, don't kill yourself. Save your family and spare them the suffering,' Ellen's ghost spoke to him with a voice as if she stood in front of him in flesh and blood.

At first, Steve was too stunned to move or speak a word, but after she had begun about his family, he regained his ability to speak.

'I will do as I want and my family will not suffer! I will find a way to stop you and Rose Red. One day you will be gone and Ellen will be all mine again. There is nothing you can do about it!' he said angrily.

'Stop fooling yourself, Steve. It's is too late already again. You've gone too far, now you will pay and you will suffer…' Ellen spoke and then she slowly disappeared into thin air.

'Come back! Come back, you hear me! I will win, no matter what it takes!' Steve shouted to the already empty room. 'Trust me, Ellen Rimbauer. There comes a day where you will die forever,' he whispered after it.

----------

'STEVE!'

Steve nearly flew out of his chair from shock. His wife's voice had carried so loud to the small hidden room that it was nearly as if she was standing right beside him. Another thing he noticed was that her voice had sounded worried, nearly scared.

Momentarily forgetting everything that had happened so far this morning, Steve quickly cleaned up the room a little and hurried to get downstairs while not trying to be seen coming out of the attic.

'I'm coming, Ellen! Where are you?' Steve said; once he was somewhere save on the second floor.

'I'm in the kitchen!' Ellen yelled back.

Steve thought he now also heard a note of anger in her voice. Therefore, he went to the kitchen as fast as he could, because he was really wondering what had happened. There was only one thing he hoped it was not, and that was that it had something to do with the inaugural from yesterday evening.

Finally arriving in the kitchen, which took Steve quite some time due to the size of the house, he faced an awkward scene. Ellen stood on his left side with her back to the Solarium. Her irritated features contrasted with the colourful flowery background. On Steve's right, stood all the servants with their backs towards the kitchen wall. All of them looked frightened and pale white to their light grey surroundings. Standing right in front of him where his children, who looked as if they wished to just blend in with the wall and disappear. Steve also had one more second to realise that it was in the middle of January, while the whole Solarium was filled with blooming plants, before Ellen started to shout to him.

'Where have you been?'

'I – just wandering around the house.'

'Next time you start wandering, make sure I know it and that I can reach you if I need you and that I don't have to shout your name for half an hour!'

Steve decided to ignore this. 'Why did you need me then?'

'Because we have a crisis due to your stupidity.'

'Before I ask you to explain this, do all the servants have to be here with us? Moreover, do the children need to be here too?'

'Yes, because it's got everything to do with the children and the servants!'

'All right, explain. But please lower your voice, I'm only a feet away from you.'

'It's is not your decision to make how loud I speak! However, I will explain to you,' Ellen said in a more quiet tone. 'You told me one nanny would be enough, and against my will I agreed with you. Now since yesterday evening we're are left with no more than zero nannies. Apparently, she had enough of it and she run away. This however, can't be confirmed by the rest of the servants, because none of them saw her leave or noticed that she was planning on leaving. Well, there you have the story.'

'Okay, I get that, but then why are the children here?' Steve asked cautiously.

'I thought they might know a little more about it, because the nanny should have been with them the whole night,' Ellen answered, as if she was explaining one and one made two.

'And, did they know more about it?'

'They say they don't, but I don't believe them. How could Emma otherwise get downstairs during the inaugural?'

'I don't know, however, Emma did tell me that the nanny went for a drink here in the kitchen with the other servants,' Steve replied calmly.

Ellen just opened her mouth to ask for a confirmation from both her daughter and servants, when the phone started ringing.

'Ellen, please wait before you threaten anyone until I get back. No, I will answer the phone,' Steve added to one of the servants, who was already on his way. Then he left the kitchen without another word.

'Good morning, this is Steve Rimbauer.'

'Good day, Steve. I'm so happy that I reached you. By the way, I'm Julie Waterman, Emery's wife.' Julie said in a hushed voice.

'All right, what can I do for you?' Steve asked politely.

'It … it's, you know,' Julie answered in a watery voice. 'We were on your inaugural last night, and I went home after a while. This morning I woke up, but Emery still wasn't back! He has disappeared on his way home, I guess,' she ended with a sniff.

Steve remained quiet on the other side of the line. There was one thing he knew for sure, Emery had not disappeared on his way home. Emery had vanished here in Rose Red. The only trouble was that Rose Red made women disappear and murdered the men. So where was the body of Emery Waterman now?

'Don't worry, Mrs. Waterman. I'll try to find out where he is and what has happened. Don't inform the police just yet, please,' Steve replied after a while.

'All right, please let me know as soon as you find something.'

'Don't worry, I will…'

Steve stopped in the middle of his sentence. There echoed a scream from the kitchen…

Chapter 9: Dead gardens


	9. Dead gardens

Chapter 9: Dead gardens

'Steve? Mr. Rimbauer?!' Julie's voice spoke through the telephone. 'Steve, is everything fine?'

It took Steve a few seconds to regain his ability to speak. Finally, he took a deep breath and answered to Julie's worried questions.

'Yes, yes, everything's fine. I've got to hang up now, however. I'll let you know something as soon as I can,' he replied in a hurried tone.

'Are you sure?'

'Yes, everything is fine. I have to go now, goodbye,' he said and before she could say another word, he had thrown the horn back on the phone and was running towards the kitchen once more.

The scene had now changed from last time when he had left it. All the servants looked nothing less but scared to death and were watching in the direction of the Solarium. There stood Ellen crouched over Emma, who was lying on the floor and screaming with all her might. Holding on to one of Ellen's legs to try and get her away from his sister, was Kevin. At once, a great rush of anger spread through Steve. He marched forwards, grabbed hold of both Ellen's arms and pulled her back roughly.

'What in the name of God do you think you are doing?' he shouted into her face.

'You let go of me!' Ellen yelled back.

'Not before I know why you are hurting your own child! I told you to threaten no one before I got back!' Steve bellowed, still holding Ellen tight.

'The little girl has been lying to us! Our servants confirm this, because the nanny hasn't been in the kitchen for the entire evening! So now I would want the truth out of her for once and for all!'

In the background, Emma had stopped screaming and was now crying as loud as ever, while a sobbing Kevin tried to comfort her. All of the servants were watching them with pity in their eyes, but seemed too scared to move towards them.

'Fine, but this is certainly not the way to solve it! You will now first calm down and then we can talk further about this,' Steve said, trying to keep his voice steady.

'You can't order me anywhere! It my own decision!' Ellen shrieked with tears in her eyes. Then she pulled herself out of Steve's grasp and ran out of the kitchen.

Steve sighed and turned to the servants, who quickly all got back into their positions.

'Okay, Anna, would you be so kind to take care of the children for a while until we have found a new nanny? Please, bring them to their rooms, give them something to eat and drink and try to calm them down,' Steve said quietly.

Anna nodded, took Kevin by the hand and picked up Emma. Then she walked out of the kitchen in silence. Once their sounds had also gone, Steve rounded towards the remaining servants.

'You can all have a day off, those who wish to leave the house are allowed too and those who wish to stay here for the rest of the day, are also welcome. Feel free to roam around the entire house, but keep on the watch for Ellen. She is in a very bad mood and you could get fired before you say "unfair". All right, off you go then.'

One by one, the servants left the kitchen too in equal silence. Once they were all gone, Steve dropped himself on a chair and started to cry quietly.

----------

After what looked like hours to Steve, he had regained his calm. He had stopped crying, was breathing normally again and could think clearly. However, when he looked at the clock on the wall, he saw that it was yet only half past ten. A heavy burden fell down on him as he realised that the day was still very long and that he had some unpleasant tasks to do. Firstly, he would try to discover Emery's body before anyone else did. Then there would still be the task left of talking to Ellen again. To him, this seemed however much more difficult then looking for a body. He still loved Ellen deep inside, he had married her for a reason, but now she was turning in the mirror image of the old Ellen Rimbauer. It wasn't the same Ellen he had adored. With whom he had spent days full of laughter and old memories.

Nevertheless, it was now time to forget this and focus on the present. How to solve the great problems he had here in Rose Red. He did know one thing; it would all be over if they went to live in a different house or if the ghost of Ellen Rimbauer was destroyed and Rose Red's powers were broken. This was though not the solution, because it would be impossible to get Ellen out of here and destroying a ghost was also a thing he didn't do every other day. So actually, Steve was pretty stuck and he knew it. However, he could always try to get more clues to get closer to a way of ending. One place where he hadn't yet been for this information and the one place where a man could lay dead for nearly twelve hours without being found. This place was the secret and mysterious gardens surrounding the haunted mansion of Rose Red.

----------

Steve was walking out of the front doors from Rose Red. He wore a thick coat, because it was of course in the middle of the winter. Still the cold from outside came to him as a shock as he walked out of the pleasant warmth. He walked steadily around the house to warm himself up a little. From the outside the house looked just as unfriendly to Steve as from the inside. It was nearly as if the windows were following him like the eyes of a many-headed beast. He was therefore happy to have reached the backside of the house, and leave it behind him to plunge into the wilderness of what was supposed to be a garden. He had only taken about five steps into the trees and bushes, when the house was already completely out of sight.

Steve shivered as he walked along one of the paths that had been created by his children in the summer days. It almost felt that the deeper he went into the gardens, the colder it got. He had not forgotten the rumours and legends that also the gardens held. It was told that in these woods, the dead dwelled, looking for their graves on which Rose Red was built. At once, a name sprang into Steve's mind: Dead gardens. It would be the perfect name for this. The gardens were cold, empty of any life, full of dead plants and there lingered a strange mist.

Steve decided to take a left turn after having walked along the path for a quarter of an hour. This was clearly a path that wasn't used a lot, because the trees hang here lower and more dead plants lay across it. After a few minutes, he also found out why his children would rather not take this turn. He stood in a clearing and at its centre was a fountain with a statue in the middle. The statue was no less than scary. It was clearly a woman holding something like a vase in her hands, but it were her eyes that frightened him. Under the stone-formed cloaks that were drabbed around her head, looked those eyes at their surroundings. They were black tunnels leading into emptiness and yet they looked so alive.

In the corner of his eyes, Steve noticed movement. He turned around as fast as he could. However, when he looked there was nothing to be seen but dead bushes and trees without any leave. Still, he was sure that he had seen something moving. It had been white, dressed in a long cloak and dress and certainly had the silhouette of a young woman. The woman appeared to have long and blond hair. With a shock, Steve came to the conclusion that it could have been the lost nanny.

Before he could however think any further, something totally unexpected happened. Suddenly, the fountain of the woman with her black eyes was working and water poured out of the vase the was carrying. Frightened to death, Steve got to his senses and ran past the statue as fast as he could in the direction where the silhouette had disappeared.

After he thought he had run far enough away from the place, he stopped to have a look around where he was now. Steve was now clearly deep in the grounds of Rose Red, there were trees every feet and there was no real visible path anymore. He started to worry slightly, because he was afraid that he wouldn't know the way back anymore. His worries increased when he saw the cloaked figure appearing again out in the corner of his eye. Once he tried to get a good view of her again, she had already gone. Somehow, she had attracted him and he followed to where he thought she was.

Later he wished he had never done this. He did reach a path once more by trailing her steps, but he also found the lifeless body of Emery Waterman.

Chapter 10: Unknown forces taking over


	10. Unknown forces taking over

Chapter 10: Unknown forces taking over

For at least a few minutes, Steve had lost control of his own body. He opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out. He wanted to run far away from this place of sorrow, but his legs would not move an inch. He wished that he could forget what he had just now seen, but the image would be in his memory for the rest of his life.

Steve had only recognised the body as Emery, because his face was unharmed and wore an expression that was filled with nothing more but terror. The rest of his body was no more than a mess of flesh and blood mangled with the remains of his clothes. The smell of death hung around him together with a swarm of flies.

Finally, Steven came to his senses again and worries now entered his mind. What could have happened to Emery to get him in this state? Was Rose Red still save enough for them to stay? How to explain Emery's wife and his own what had happened? Should he inform the police or not? And if he did not, what to do with the body? The answer came very quick to him. This in all means must be kept secret. Steve would bury the body himself today in this faraway place of the garden, he would tell Julie that Emery was unfound at Rose Red; she would call the police and simply give him up as missing. Then no one would ever find him and it would be a closed case. He would later doubt about the rest of his unanswered questions and if this was the final reason for him to leave this house forever with his children and maybe with Ellen.

Therefore, it was that Steve walked back into the direction of the house to get a spade. All of the time he shut his mind for everything that had happened and what was happening. He didn't even notice that all this time a pair of eyes was following him and that his deeds didn't go at all unnoticed.

----------

Ellen had been crying in her bedroom for most of the morning. Tears of frustration, anger, fear and despair. Finally, after a few hours, she had calmed down again quite well and decided to go and find her husband to tell him she hadn't meant it like this and they had to go away from Rose Red.

She strayed through Rose Red now, looking for Steve who was nowhere to be found. Neither was anyone else though, the house was completely empty and silent. All of the servants seemed to have left for today, which wasn't too weird, but it was strange that her children were nowhere either. The longer Ellen wandered, the more staircases, rooms and passages she entered were looking new to her. It nearly seemed as if she was walking in maze with no way out. After walking for an hour and still not haven't seen any living soul or have found something she remembered, Ellen started to get frightened.

She was right on the edge of screaming for help, when she opened a door that was right above a stairs and light hit her eyes. Ellen had found a new way into the Solarium. By the look of it, it seemed to her that she was somewhere in the far back directly opposite to the kitchen. When the door closed behind her, she couldn't see it anymore at all; it was a real hidden door. Ellen wrestled her way through all the plants and trees that were full of green leaves and blossoms. After a few minutes, she stood exactly in the middle of the Solarium and in front of her was a something like a vision of a projector.

Ellen stopped working her way out of the plants and stared at the images that were pictured in front of her. Flowers were stuck in her hair and twigs hung down from her cloths, but she did not notice. She was totally transfixed looking at what seemed like her own husband, who stood in a far corner of the garden from Rose Red, and he appeared to be digging a hole. A few feet away from him lay a corpse of a middle-aged man.

She was shocked by what she saw and then a voice of a woman spoke to her.

'Your husband is not obeying you; he betrays you and keeps his secrets. He thinks we are a mad or going slowly crazy. Let him think you are fine, let him think everything will be all right and that he doesn't need to worry about you or any suspicions you might have. Pretend you love him, like you adore him.'

'But…but I do really love him,' Ellen mumbled to herself.

'It's just an illusion… You are mine!'

'Yes, all yours,' Ellen now spoke clearly and it seemed as if her eyes glowed red for a second. Then the feeling was gone and everything was back as it was. The Solarium filled with flowers and bushes and through the window in the kitchen, Ellen could see Steve who was washing his hands. Ellen smiled and then walked towards her husband to surprise him with a little present.

----------

Steve had just finished doing what in his eyes seemed the best. However, it hadn't left him in a very good state. He was shaking of horror and shock still, soaked with cold sweat, his hands were bloody and muddy, and dried blood stained his clothes in some places. He was now heading back towards the house he deeply loathed, but at the moment its warmth and little safety did give Steve a feeling of hope.

Once inside Rose Red, he hurried to the kitchen and went to the sink to wash his hands. A great relief swept through him as he felt the hot water over his hands and as all remains and memories of the past were wiped off them. He was so obsessed with washing away history, he didn't even notice the kitchen door open and close again from the Solarium. He had just realised he wasn't alone anymore, when a pair of hands closed around his neck. However, before he had time to react the hands were sliding down already to his waist and then under his shirt.

Steve gave a sigh and Ellen gently kissed his cheek.

'Did I scare you?' she asked quietly.

'No, just a little,' Steve replied.

'What did you do? Why are you covered in blood? Are you hurt?' Ellen now asked with slightly higher and louder voice.

'No, no don't worry. It's just – I found a dead animal in the garden and I buried it so the children wouldn't find it,' Steve answered without a hesitation.

'All right then, cause I've got a little surprise for you. But before I'll give it to you, just a question. Where are the children actually?' she now said softly kissing his neck.

'I left the children with Anna. I guess she took them out to the zoo or something, I gave the rest of the staff free too for the rest of the day,' he quickly said for he was afraid she might get upset again about talking of what happened this morning.

'That is a very good idea of you, because now we have the entire house to ourselves,' she replied playful.

'I'm getting really curious now…' Steve said grinning. Then he turned around to face Ellen, put his still wet hands on her cheeks and kissed her passionately.

----------

A few hours later, Ellen and Steve were lying in bed with their arms around each other and both with a satisfied look on their face. Steve looked Ellen in her eyes.

'I love you,' he whispered.

For a moment, Ellen's eyes shone more blue then ever before and then she replied whispering 'I love you too.'

Silence fell again and was soon already broken again by Ellen.

'Steve, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done what I did this morning; I don't know what's gotten into me lately. I promise that everything will be better if we just hold on a little longer with all our strength and have a little more faith in what the future will bring us.'

'I know. I know you didn't mean it. Together we will fight to win the war of life. Together we will conquer because I have always loved you and my love for you can still only grow.'

Once more silence ruled over Rose Red, until the sun started to set and one by one the servants returned entering the house and closing the doors with a loud bang. Bit by bit life regained in the mansion. People were busy cooking, cleaning, talking and laughing. Children were running and playing games of their own. Doors opened and closed, boards creaked on the stairs, light spread slowly into rooms and delicious smells of dinner found themselves all the way up to the attic.

With this new world Ellen and Steve started a new part of their life. A new and happier part of their life in Rose Red. A more pleasant bit in the time of horrors and fear. However, little did they know that this was only for a short while, because again dark powers would take over the house and its inhabitants. Unknown forces that were slowly binding their time and just getting stronger every happy day.

Chapter 11: From wishes to reality


	11. From wishes to reality

Chapter 11: From wishes to reality

Days now passed quickly in Rose Red, as every one was in a good mood. Nothing strange happened anymore and it was nearly as if they were just a normal family living in an ordinary house. The children had fun playing around while slowly spring come looking around the corner. The servants all seemed to be getting along fine with their work and could sometimes even be heard whistling. However, Ellen shone most throughout the house like a morning sun. She was nearly always smiling, took good care of everyone and even laughed along with her servants. Steve could not think why he had ever hated it in the beautiful mansion of Rose Red. Of course, there were still the hidden rooms and staircases everywhere in the house, but that was just something of the past that didn't belong in their time. Rose Red started to become like an ordinary house to Steve. Except then for the dollhouse Emma now had, which she told him he had given to her. Steve knew he hadn't placed it in her room, but he did know it was an old model of Rose Red itself. Now, he had decided to look at it himself just to be sure.

Steve was alone in the room. It was filled with toys and dolls of his daughter. In the middle of the room on the carpet stood a big old-looking dollhouse. It was an exact replica of Rose Red and even April, John and Ellen Rimbauer's daughter, had played already with it.

Silently, he walked towards it and crouched down to see it better. In reality, it didn't look very harmful or scary, just an ordinary dollhouse. However, Steve knew better, because one look at it made him shiver already. Even though it was already many years old and made a replica of the original Rose Red, he could clearly see the new wings that had been built only a few years ago. Things that hadn't yet existed in the original state. This meant that this had been built on to the dollhouse years later, but no one had ever done anything to it. So how was it possible that the replica remained exact to the real house if not a person ever bothered to keep it the same as in reality? Another strange thing was that this new wings were on the dollhouse made of the same material and it didn't look at all if it had been made on it later.

This was not all. The dolls in the house looked exactly like Steve, Ellen, Emma and Kevin. Certainly, they had not lived in Rose Red when this had been built. It seemed like this dollhouse had its own way of keeping itself the same as reality. Steve shuddered to think of the ways that this could be possible. Each next one as unlikely as the first one and getting only more supernatural.

Then he had felt a cold wind on his back. Filled with fright he turned around slowly. However, it was only Emma who had opened the door and entered the room. Steve felt his body relax again and let out a sigh of relief.

'Did I scare you, daddy?' Emma asked.

'No, you didn't. Don't worry,' Steve replied.

'Okay. Do you like my dollhouse? I think it looks really nice and it is fun that it is made just like our house. You know, sometimes I even think that I hear the little people talking; it's a bit scary. And you know, I could swear that I put the dolls somewhere and when I come back later, they have to another place,' Emma told her father in one breath and nodded her head to convince him of the last piece of information.

'Are you sure Kevin doesn't move them?' Steve asked his little daughter wisely, while his inside was full of doubt.

Emma now started shaking her head. 'No he can't have, because I asked him once and he said he hadn't been here. I didn't believe him and asked mummy if she knew where he had been that morning, and she told me he had been playing outside all the time or had been with her. And one time, I hadn't even left the room, but just went to do something else for a while. So I'm sure it wasn't him.'

Steve didn't know what to say to this. Because even he himself was convinced that what she was telling him was true, but of course, he could not tell her that. Therefore, he decided it was best to just not reply to it and start new subject.

'So, have you heard the exciting news from mummy yet?'

'No… What then?' Emma asked looking curious.

'Jack will be coming home tomorrow,' Steve answered grinning.

At once, a big smile spread over Emma's little face and her eyes began to shine.

'Really?' she asked.

'Yes, really!'

'Yeah! Finally, it's been ages since he's gone! I'm going to ask mummy if I can wear my new dress then!' Emma said with a last look at Steve and then run out of the room filled with excitement.

Once she was gone, Steve couldn't help stopping with smiling too. He knew how much Emma's oldest brother meant to her, and was very happy that once more they'd be a whole family again. He left the room a minute later too, without as much of a thought about the dollhouse or anything else that could spoil his mood.

----------

Only two hours had passed since the little event in Emma's playing room, when Steve was interrupted from his work again. This time he wasn't investigating strange happenings, but simply reading a book. Nor was it Emma who came into the room, but Ellen. She still looked happy, but there was something in her look Steve didn't really recognise though he was sure he had seen the look before even if it was only a few times. Still he wasn't sure what it meant and therefore became a bit cautious.

'Hello Ellen. What brings you here?' Steve asked.

Ellen didn't reply at once, but first sat down. Steve put away his book, and looked curiously and a bit worried at her.

'There is – there is something I need to tell you,' she said hesitating.

Steve stood up, walked towards her and sat down on his knees before her. Then he gently held her hands.

'Don't worry, you can tell me anything,' he friendly spoke to her wondering what was going on.

'It's just… I – I'm pregnant!' Ellen told him while a great smile appeared on her face.

For a moment, Steve was too shocked to speak, and then he came to his senses again.

'You're pregnant? Really?' he asked nearly shouting of happiness.

'Yes, it is true! We're going to have another baby,' Ellen replied with tears of luck shone in her eyes.

At that point, Steve was lost for words and didn't know what to do first. He wanted to hug her, kiss her, shout it out, run around the house, anything. Finally, he simply took her in his arms and gave her a kiss.

'I thought it was best to tell you know, so we can tell the children tomorrow when Jack comes back,' Ellen said after a while.

'Okay, yes, you're absolutely right. When did you actually find out?'

'Only a few hours ago, I did a pregnancy test because I was late.'

'Ellen, I love you.'

Again, silence fell and all Ellen could do was to kiss Steve for words were just not enough.

----------

Today was the day that Jack would come home after a long time. Everybody was exited and running around the house finishing some last things. The servants were putting up some final Welcome Home decorations, Ellen dressed herself for the last time, Emma could be found in the garden looking for some early flowers, Kevin was simply bouncing around the house annoying everyone, but everybody was too busy to say something about it. Steve was walking through all of this telling how lovely Ellen looked and her dress didn't make her fat, giving some instructions to the servants and to get Emma out of the garden before Jack came.

At three o'clock, everyone was ready and standing in line in the Great Hall waiting. However, three o'clock came and passed. Slowly more and more minutes went by. At a quarter past, Emma and Kevin got tired of just standing. Steve told them they could sit down and they came quiet again. The servants didn't utter a single word or move a muscle all the time. With every minute, Steve and Ellen got more worried that anything had happened to him. Jack was always on time and never late.

The clock let them know that it was now half past three already. Steve just wanted to start a whispered conversation with Ellen, when they heard a noise near the front door. Then it opened and there stood Jack with his luggage. His skin was still sunburned even though it was winter and his face was full of freckles. His eyes shone of happiness when he saw all of them standing there.

'Hullo everyone! Sorry I'm a bit late,' he added grinning.

'Jack!' Emma shouted, she sprung up and ran into his arms.

'We were so worried. How come you're so late, what happened?' Steve asked walking towards his son and hugging him too.

'Trust me you are never going to believe this story,' Jack said laughing.

'Well tell us then,' Ellen asked after she had kissed him first.

'Yeah, come on tell it!' Kevin said eagerly.

'Let's all go and sit down, have a drink and then tell us everything,' Steve suggested.

Everybody nodded and the whole party moved towards the sitting room.

Chapter 12: Future glimpses


	12. Rose Red's ghosts

Chapter 12: Rose Red's ghosts

Once they were all settled with a drink in their hands, Jake started telling.

'My departure at the boarding school was all fine. I left there on time, the bus was on time, and everything was as perfect as it could be. Even the weather was nice,' Jake added nodding to Emma who listened eagerly to him.

'Anyway, then I arrived here in Seattle and you have to believe me that from the airport, it took me an hour to get here. Mind you, if I had walked I would have been here even sooner. Now what happened is that I called a taxi to take me here, but guess what, we drove around here in the area, but we simply couldn't find the house anymore. It was nearly as if it had disappeared. After three quarters of an hour, the driver gave up. He said I didn't need to pay, because he knew this area very well though Rose Red had now gone. So there I stood again with all my stuff waiting for a cab to a house that I couldn't find. Then another taxi stopped, but when I said I had to go to Rose Red, he swore loud and just drove away! Anyway, after all of this I decided to just start walking for I knew that it had to be near and guess, a minute later there it was right in front of me. Kind of strange,' Jake finished his story.

'Awesome,' was all Kevin could say.

Emma couldn't just stop staring at her brother in awe. However, Steve was only able to produce a weak smile. Strange he found it indeed, and rather troubling. Ellen seemed to have found neither of it, for she laughed at the story.

'What an amazing adventure you had,' she told Jake.

Jake nodded in agreement, happy to be the centre of the family he hadn't seen for over a year.

'I also have a little surprise for all of you,' Ellen said looking at all of her three children.

'What is it?' Emma asked excited.

'You want to know?' Ellen asked giggling.

'Yes!' all of them chorused back.

'Your mummy is going to have another baby, which means you'll get a new brother or sister!'

'Wow that is brilliant!'

'I'll get a little sister!'

'No, a new brother to play football with!'

'Congratulations mom!'

They all hugged each other.

'Now, who is hungry?' Ellen asked.

'Me!'

'Let's go to the dining room then, to see what dear cook Peter has made for us,' Ellen suggested.

The children ran forwards, while Steve waited for Ellen and offered her his arm. She took it and in silence, they walked smiling after their children.

----------

'Mummy! Mummy, Kevin is mean to me! He stole me favourite doll!' Emma was shouting while running all around the house.

'Mummy where are you?'

Silence greeted the little girl's words. Emma stopped running around and looked around her. She was in front of the stairs that went to the attic with the small tower its beautiful stained-glass window. All there was to be heard were some birds outside in the garden, but the house itself was strangely quiet. It was as if it was taking a deep breath and holding it for a long time. The little girl shivered, though she didn't know exactly why. She turned on the spot, straining to hear anything at all from one of her brothers on her parents. However, all remained as still as ever.

'Hello? Mum? Dad? Is there anybody here?' Emma asked to her surroundings with a little shiver in her voice too.

Once more, no sound or words answered her. Emma now got a bit scared, because something inside of her told her that something was horribly wrong. Her breathing got faster and she stepped onto the first of the stairs.

'Hello, is somebody up there?' Emma asked to the attic above her, for she was sure that she had just heard something move there.

Again, there was that noise coming from the attic. It was as if there was some kind of animal moving around there. However, then it did sound like a rather big one. Slowly as Emma's curiosity won from her fears, she went up the stairs gradually not wanting to be heard. As she drew nearer to the door, the sounds became louder. However, except from the moving sounds, she couldn't hear whatever was there, making noise. She hoped it would, because then she would know if it was just a bird or something and not anything much worse.

After a minute or so, she had finally reached the top of the stairs and was now a few inches from the door separating her from what was on the other side. Now she was so close, she thought she could distinguish some sound, which sounded like hammering and building, but that seemed quite weird to her, since nobody had answered her shouts. Moreover, she just realised that it was Sunday, so there certainly wouldn't be any builders around working on the house. She took a deep breath, put her hand quietly against the door and slowly opened the door a tiny bit.

As she looked through, all she could see was a dusty floor and old furniture and paintings covered with rags. It was completely silent now, but Emma was sure that what had made the noise was still there in the attic. She opened the door a little further, so she could now overlook the entire attic. On the floor were small spaces where the dust was moved, like somebody had walked there not so long ago. The footprints seemed not at all big to Emma, which made her wonder even more who it then could have been that had walked here.

Emma walked over to one of the prints and put her own foot next to it. It was clear to her that it was not from an animal, though it was slightly smaller than her own. Since she was the youngest in the house, this was quite strange for she didn't know what other child might have walked here.

She jumped when she suddenly heard a sound again from out of the tower was. It was clearly a little girl, giggling.

'H-Hello?' Emma whispered.

The giggling stopped and there was silence again.

'Hello?' Emma now asked a little louder.

She heard movement in the tower and had the feeling that someone was watching her from the creek of the door opening between the attic and the tower. She strained to see if she could distinguish something in the shadows. However, she couldn't see anyone, though she knew that the girl that was up there could see her.

Emma decided to try and get the girl talk to her; perhaps she could find out why she was here or who she was.

'Who are you?' was Emma's first question.

To her amazement, she actually got an answer now.

'April', a voice replied out of the shadows. April's voice sounded distant, but was further like any other young girl's voice.

'Hi April, how did you come all the way up here, why are you here?' Emma questioned again.

Another giggle, but no answer yet.

'Please, you can tell me,' Emma pleaded.

'Well, I live here.'

It was now Emma's turn to fall silent. She still hadn't moved from the place next to the footprint, however, she now took some steps closer to tower.

After a few seconds when she still hadn't replied to April's answer, it was now the little girl's time to ask a question.

'Will you come and play with me up here, Emma?'

'Yes, of course,' Emma said at once, but then she suddenly noticed something. That little girl had said her name, though she hadn't yet given it to her.

'How do you know my name?' she asked first before she went to the tower.

'Because I live here of course,' was the girl's answer.

Emma just ignored that and started walking towards the door of the tower. April was giggling once more. When Emma had her hand on the door to open it further, April's voice sounded again out of the shadows, however, it now sounded anything but a little girl.

'Forever play with me!'

The door was thrown open and Emma grabbed inside, all she could still do was only scream. Then there was total silence again in the attic and nothing moved.

----------

Steve was walking through a corridor on the second floor, whistling. He was happier than he had been in a long time. Everything was right now. However, he couldn't help but feel that nagging sense telling him that this had happened before. Things had seemed right before, but then it had gone wrong again. Nevertheless, Steve had decided to ignore this and had told himself that this time it was different.

He was just stepping onto the first stairs taking him down to the ground floor, for he had decided the weather was so good he wanted to spent some time in the Solarium, when something made him stop.

Somewhere faraway in the house, somebody seemed to be yelling. However, Steve couldn't distinguish the words that were spoken, but he could hear that whatever she was shouting about, it was his little Emma. He still stood there, one foot already on the stairs, wondering what he should do. He decided just to check what was wrong, so he was sure nothing really bad had happened.

He turned around, and started walking backwards from where he just came from. The shouting seemed to be coming from somewhere far up into the house, like it was coming from the attic. While Steve followed the noise up, he speculated to himself why Emma would ever be all the way up there. Then suddenly, the yelling stopped.

Steve woke up out of his thoughts. He strained to hear something, but all he could hear, were the birds singing outside. 'Emma?' Nothing or nobody answered him.

Perhaps things were already solved, but again he just wanted to be sure, so he chose to have a look in the attic anyway. As he slowly walked on towards it, there was still no other sound to be heard from Emma. When he had nearly reached the stairs leading to the attic with the little tower, he heard a scream from Emma up there and then only deadly silence.

'Emma?' Steve now shouted panicked.

He run the last bit up the stairs and burst through the door into the grimy attic. There he looked around. He could see Emma's footsteps in the dust on the floor, but there was nothing else around that looked suspicious. However, as he walked on trailing his daughter's steps, he did find something strange. Emma's steps went up the stairs leading to the tower, but there they suddenly stopped like she had disappeared into thin air.

'Emma?' he said silently now.

There was still no answer, and Steve turned around again facing the attic. He noticed something standing there in a corner now, that wasn't there before. It had the shape of a human and was as small as a child, but it wasn't moving at all or making any sound. Slowly, Steve moved over towards it. As he was still only a few feet away from it, it suddenly moved towards him. He stopped and unable to move out of fear, he didn't back away as the creature came closer. It was only a feet from him, when it came out of the shadows and Steve could see what it was.

'You!' he said with terror in his voice.

He knew this time would come perhaps again one day, but not now. He was face to face with the ghost of April Rimbauer.

'Not only me,' she spoke in her blood chilling tone.

As she said this, next to her appeared the shape of the old Ellen Rimbauer too.

'No,' Steve whispered to no one in particular, 'This can't be true.'

'You better go far away from this house Steve, its powers are growing, I am growing again and nothing can stop it. Or it will devour everything you love!' Ellen spoke.

'I have new friend, her name is Emma. Do you know her?' April asked him innocently with a cold voice.

Steve couldn't talk anymore, he just shook his head hoping this was all not happening. The two ghosts rapidly vanished and once they were completely gone, the walls of the attic were closing in on Steve. Steve found the feeling back in his muscles and started running towards the door as the walls were still coming closer towards him. He dashed through and run until he was somewhere in the house he didn't recognise at once and stopped to come back to breath. After that, he looked around to see if he could figure out where he was. This was a wing in which he didn't often come, it was the guest wing. He started walking the route of which he thought he knew was towards the great hall. However, no matter where he walked, the corridors remained looking the same and he lost his complete feeling of direction as if he was walking through a maze. He started jogging, and finally after what seemed like hours, he saw a stairs ahead.

But this wasn't something to save him. As he reached the stairs, he looked up, but all he saw were never-ending stairs going up reaching the skies. However, he got a real fright when he looked down. There was a bottomless pit and on the stairs below him, he could see all the victims Rose Red had ever claimed climbing up slowly towards him. He could even see the mad scientist he had once worked with in the house, Joyce Reardon.

Steve just closed his eyes and hoped that it would all soon be over like a bad nightmare.

Chapter 13: Out of control


	13. Out of control

Chapter 13: Out of control

Steve stood there with his eyes closed already for a minute, though he didn't hear anything anymore, he didn't dare to open them; afraid of what he would see then. When a cold hand suddenly took hold of his shoulder, he gave a scream of terror and jumped, his eyes still closed.

'Steve, is everything all right?'

He recognised her voice and finally opened his eyes slowly. Ellen stood a little from him looking curious and worried. As Steve didn't answer her, she asked him again.

'Steve, please say something. What's happened?'

'It…It is Emma,' Steve replied at last regaining his speech.

'What is it with her? That's why I was here, because I couldn't find her. Steve, where is she?' a small note of panic was now in Ellen's tone.

'Rose Red has taken her, she is taken,' Steve repeated his legs shaking.

Ellen's eyes started to glisten as tears welled up in them. She shook her head, not speaking, and then ran away shouting her daughter's name.

Bit by bit Steve came into movement too, walking down the stairs and to the nearest telephone. There he dialled to the police telling them only that there little girl was missing, but nothing about what he had seen, for anyway, who would ever believe him?

----------

Steve, Ellen, Jake and Kevin were all sitting in the kitchen together with all the staff just as the last police officers were leaving the house. It was late in the evening by now and though everybody was tired, no one was willing to go to bed and sleep. Much had happened today.

Only half an hour after Steve had called the police, they had arrived in great number. None of them might have believed in ghosts, but all knew about the history of Rose Red. They had first calmed Ellen down and while some stayed behind to interrogate the staff and all other people in the house; the rest went to search the house from top to bottom and every crook they could find. Even the entire garden was looked through. However, when all was looked at, Emma was still not found and it was like she had just disappeared from earth. As there was no more that the police could do, they started to leave Rose Red; reassuring them that they would investigate all they had now to the bottom in any way to figure out what had happened to Emma.

But Steve didn't need them telling them what had happened, for he knew it very well himself, though he had no way to prove it. Finally all of them had trooped in the kitchen and the rest of the house was quiet when the last engine died away. Ellen stood up and walked towards her two children that were now left.

'Come, I'll take you to bed,' Ellen said quietly to Kevin and Jake.

Without any hesitation or disobedience, both of them stood up and walked out of the kitchen with Ellen behind them in silence.

'I think it is best if we all go to bed now, you are free to go,' Steve told the staff and then hurried after his wife and children to get some time alone.

Every day following that one was all in the same rhythm and silence. Rose Red had never yet been so quiet even with still so many people living in there. All the house's residents seemed to have turned to ghosts themselves, barely speaking to each other and living and moving all in silence. There was one person who was barely recognisable from who she had been only a few weeks ago. The change her daughter's disappearance had made on Ellen was conspicuous. While she had been so happy when she had found out that she was pregnant, she had smiled every day, laughed every day, played with her children, helped the servants and talked about everything and nothing, now she did none of all this. In fact, her desire to live any longer seemed to have left her. All Ellen did these days was walking through the house with her face empty of any emotion or thought, sitting and staring out of a window or else sleeping and eating in equal silence. Any form of conversation appeared to cost her too much pain and energy to do it.

It was tiring Steve, he of course had it tough with the loss of his little daughter, but he knew that life went on and they couldn't keep hanging in the past. However, Steve was somewhat reluctant to tell this to Ellen and hoped that she would come by after some time. Nevertheless, days passed, turned into weeks and after more than a month, Steve couldn't handle the silence anymore. Moreover, he hadn't forgotten about the warning he got, but he hadn't told anyone about that yet. For even if he did, who would ever believe him?

Evening had fallen after another silent day in Rose Red. The house was now dark and gloomy, exactly as a ghost house was supposed to be, Steve thought walking along such a corridor. He was on his way to Ellen and definite to talk to her and get her talking again. This might become a task more difficult than he thought.

'Evening Ellen,' Steve said as he entered the room where she sat staring out of the window and closed the door after him.

Ellen didn't answer him or even moved to look at him. Steve went on determinately.

'We need to talk, or at least, you need to start talking again for we cannot go on like this.'

She still answered with silence, nor did she turn to look at him, but she did blink at his words.

'Ellen, I know it must be hard for you, you have lost you youngest child and only daughter, but you cannot forever mourn. Life goes on, and you must think of your child that is on the way and of course your two sons. It is hard for me too, but I know that even though we lost Emma, we will never get her back so it is best to continue. Then all of this has not been in vain, we can pick everything back up again and it can become as it was.'

After this, Ellen finally moved to face Steve. Her face was filled with anger. Steve actually took a step backwards from where he stood.

'How dare you talk to me like that, like it is something that just happens and that should be forgotten quickly? She was my daughter, I lost my only daughter and you are telling me to just forget it and get on with my life. All men are the same, you are just like that old Rimbauer, dear old John,' Ellen said her voice filled with hate.

Steve didn't know what to answer for a minute, but then he decided it was time that he would take control of life in Rose Red.

'Yes, I dare talk to you like that and yes, I ask you to forget it. You can't just sit here for the rest of your life, think of your other children.'

'No I won't just forget it! I have a good idea, let's just sent both of the boys back to boarding school. Then they won't be bothered by me and the other way around. As for you, I don't care what you do, but just leave me alone,' Ellen ended, turning back towards the window.

Steve knew that the conversation was over, and left the room with his head down. It seemed that Rose Red had finally beaten its last enemy.

----------

Before the week had ended, both Jake and Kevin were sent off to boarding school. There was now complete silence in Rose Red. The servants were all quietly doing their work and afterwards most went home every day. No feet could be heard running down the hallways or staircases, no laughter was heard in a room, no music was played to break the silence and no word was spoken due to Rose Red's immense size as everyone could evade each other easily, especially Steve and Ellen.

Whether Ellen was doing this on purpose or feeling bad about it all, Steve didn't know, but he himself was starting to feel nothing short of terrible. However, Rose Red seemed to be in a mood of jubilance. The green house was blooming with flowers, the hallways seemed to change every hour and even though there were no builders in the house, Rose Red seemed to grow bigger every day. In fact, it wasn't even Ellen that was driving Steve crazy, it was the house that was making him desperate. It scared and enraged him at the same time, for he knew what was happening, but there was nothing that he could do against it. To escape the house during the day, he spent most of the time in the enormous garden, but even there he wouldn't calm down. He had not forgotten what had happened in them before either. Still anything was better than being inside Rose Red. However, as Steve got more depressed even his so called 'dead gardens' seem to come alive in strange way. A way he didn't like at all, for he had the feeling that he was followed continuously by unseen things and the eyes of cold grey statues, which were spread throughout the garden.

Finally, Steve couldn't take it anymore.

'Ellen, where are you? Ellen!' he shouted walking through the house.

'Sir?'

A maid came out of a room on the corridor, which he was pounding. He stopped at her sight.

'Sir, I believe she can be found in her withdrawing room on the second floor of the left wing.'

'Thank you, Leanne.'

In the end he reached the room Leanne had mentioned and opened the door without knocking. Moreover, Ellen was indeed sitting in the room, her pregnancy already slightly visible.

'Ellen, I am going away for a while. I don't know to where or anything else, but I cannot stay here,' Steve said before she could even react to his entering.

She looked at him, with a somewhat sad and desperate look in her eyes asking him for help for a second, then her face turned cold and emotionless again.

'Fine, do whatever you like. I'll see you when you get back.'

Steve was taken aback by this answer, he had expected at least some resistance. He didn't know what to answer at first.

'All right,' was what he murmured after a while and he left the room.

Then he grabbed a suitcase, packed everything he thought was useful and the same day he left. He left Ellen, he left Rose Red and he left Seattle. He was on his way to Europe alone.

*Chapter 14: Madam Stravinski*


	14. Madam Stravinski

Chapter 14: Madam Stravinski

Steve was sitting in the plane on his way to the capital of Britain. He had formed a plan the minute he had left Rose Red. Before going to the airport, he went to visit Madame Lu. He had asked her where he could find the woman she had talked about some years ago. Madame Lu had told him that Madam Stravinski could be found in London so that was where he was headed now. Rose Red and Ellen Rimbauer had to be stopped for once and for all, and as far as he knew this might be the only way and his only chance to get his wife and children back. After many hours he finally arrived in the city. However, since it was late in the evening, he decided that he would first go and sleep a night at the hotel before visiting the lady the following morning.

When he woke the following morning, he felt like he hadn't slept at all. Whole night it had been haunting him whether he had made the right decision. Perhaps it hadn't been save at all to leave Ellen behind on her own, especially now that she was pregnant. However, there was no returning now and after a quick breakfast he left the hotel. He didn't know exactly where madam Stravinski lived, but Madame Lu had told him where he was most likely to find her and given him an old picture. So he started his search simply walking along the streets, shops and all other places Madame Lu had said back in Seattle. In his hand the old picture and his eyes on everyone that walked by him.

With a little confidence he walked the first few days, for in him was a little hope that soon it would all end. He also asked some people whether they knew her, or knew where she lived or was now. However, as already a week passed without any sign of a woman like the one on the picture, the last hope he had also left him. Still he went out every day from morning till the evening waiting to see her, to find her or to hear from her. After a fortnight of searching, Steve was starting to feel truly desperate and fearful that Rose Red could never be stopped. His searches grew less and he didn't spent whole days walking through London anymore, most of the time he just lay on his hotel bed, staring at the ceiling trying not to think of what still might be to come if he went home alone again. Again more than a week past without a change. Until the telephone rang in his small hotel room.

'Hello?' Steve asked indifferently.

'Good morning, sir Rimbauer. I have someone here who wants to speak with you,' the receptionist told him with a cheerful voice.

'Who is it?' was Steve's short reply.

'It is an old lady, who tells me you were looking for her. Her name is Stravinski.'

At once Steve shot up right on his bed now fully awake and his attention focused. 'Sent her up, please.'

'As you wish, sir,' the receptionist said before hanging up.

Steve bounced out of bed, quickly combed his hair and put on a new shirt. He was just straightening his pants still as good as he could in a few seconds when there was a soft knock on the door. He nearly ran to the door to open it as fast as he could. Before him stood indeed Madam Stravinski, there was no mistaking her for she looked precisely the same as on the old photograph.

'Welc... Uhm, good morning, Madam Stravinski,' Steve stuttered.

'Good morning, Steve,' her voice was soft and pleasant with an accent and didn't seem to fit at all with her age, 'May I come in?'

'Of course, come in, come in,' he said hurrying inside so that she could follow. 'I'm sorry for the small room and the mess in here.'

'Never mind, what we have to talk about is a far greater problem and it doesn't include this room, city or even this country. All we have to worry about is your house back in Seattle.'

Steve looked at her with surprise and somewhat shock in his eyes. 'How do you know all of this about me?'

'Because I am not just any woman and I have seen things in my past you wouldn't even dare to dream of. One of those things is Rose Red and unfortunately I reckon you have by now seen just as much as me there. But some of my information I simply got from one of my friends, whom you questioned about me. As soon as she told me you name, Rimbauer, I knew what I was headed for and decided to find you, for people don't just come to me for a simple reason. And I thought that your problem with your name might just be the house. Am I correct?' she answered.

'Well, yes you are,' was all Steve could say.

'Good, then we are up for a though job. I know Rose Red of course from my time with the old lady Ellen Rimbauer, I encountered its powers in that time and I know that it is haunted in many ways. So it is easy for you, you don't have to convince me of your problem, but you do need to tell me everything that has happened there since you moved in. Because the house might be old by now, but ghosts and spirits never grow old, they can only become stronger. It would therefore be a good idea if I know what we're going to fight against once we enter it, because coming into Rose Red unprepared can be very dangerous as you know very well yourself. Let's travel back to your home at once and not lose any time. During the way you can tell me everything. Get packed here and I will see you at noon in front of your hotel.'

'Okay,' said Steve quietly.

'Until then, Steve,' she ended, walking towards the door already.

'Wait, before you leave, I want to thank you already for your help,' Steve said, standing up as well.

'Don't worry, for I am the only one that can help you.'

'May, may I ask you a question?' Steve asked hesitating.

'Certainly, you may always ask a question, but whether you'll get an answer that is the real question.'

'How old are you?'

The old lady smiled. 'I will not tell you, for if I did, you wouldn't believe me. Keep it to very old, then I have not told a lie either.'

And with this note she left the room and left Steve to pack his stuff together with his heart full of some new sort of hope and his mind buzzing with questions and memories.

Steve did as he was told and informed Madam Stravinski of everything that had happened yet in Rose Red as far as he could remember. Though some parts were hard for him, and until know he had hidden them in a far corner of his mind, he now had to relive it all, like the disappearance of his little daughter Emma. While he talked, miles flew past as they headed towards Seattle.

Finally after many hours, their trip was to an end and Steve was nearly hoarse from talking as they stood together in front of the gates through which they could already see Rose Red.

'Rose Red has grown much with Ellen at its side,' Madam Stravinski said quietly.

'Yes, we had some new things built over the time,' Steve answered, thinking she meant the new wing.

'I didn't just mean the work of men,' she whispered mysteriously. 'Your other children are not at home at this time?'

'No, they are both at boarding school and will stay there until the holidays,' Steve replied taken aback a little.

'Good, that's good. Now take me inside.'

Steve nodded and they walked slowly towards the house's waiting front door. Steve was slightly afraid of what he might find on the inside and in what mood Ellen would be in if he suddenly came home a few weeks after he left so quick. With lead in his shoes, he opened the door and entered the dark house. For a moment he even thought he could hear the house laughing at his return, but he shook his head and told himself it was his imagination. Madam Stravinski stood quietly behind him in the hall as the door closed with a loud blow in the total silence. Steve took a deep sigh.

'Ellen? Ellen, are you at home?' he called into the house.

At first there was not a sound that answered him, but then he heard a door slam somewhere on the first floor and footsteps running towards the staircase.

'Steve, is that you?' her voice asked with doubt before she had even reached the stairs. Then she came around the corner at the top of it. She was wearing some old clothes, and her eyes were red. Her belly had grown since he had left, even under the wide shirt he could see the small rounding. When she saw him, tears welled up in her eyes and she flew down the stairs.

'I was so scared here all alone,' she sobbed as she threw her arms around him.

'I'm glad you are fine,' Steve said shocked with this welcome, which he had least of all expected.

'Oh I am so sorry. And I see you brought someone with you. Who is your friend?' Ellen asked smiling through her tears.

Madam Stravinski hadn't moved a muscle since she had entered the house, not even with the scene in front of her, and she hadn't made a sound. Steve had for a moment nearly forgotten that she was there from shock of Ellen's greeting.

'Ellen, I would like you to meet Madam Stravinski. She is ... an old friend of my mother and is here to ... to visit some old friends and help us in the house,' Steve invented quickly.

'Well everyone is welcome here in Rose Red,' Ellen said smiling and extending her arm to shake hands with the woman.

'I thank you for your hospitality,' Madam Stravinski said, but she kept both of her hands firmly together on her suitcase.

Ellen stood there for a few seconds, looked at her with curiosity and then took her hand back offended.

'Let me show you your room,' she said turning away and her voice slightly colder now.

Steve gave her a little nod, and Madam Stravinski followed Ellen up the stairs with Steve bringing up the rear.

Once they were all settled in, Ellen excused herself and went to the kitchen to cook something warm for them. Steve hadn't yet decided what he was going to do, when Madam Stravinski came to ask for him.

'Will you please come with me into the garden for a moment?'

'Sure, that's fine. This way,' he answered and as he was leading the way, he wondered why she wanted to go there.

Once they were by a fountain somewhere in the garden, Madam Stravinski stopped walking and sat down at the stone edge. Steve turned around towards her and looked into her eyes.

'Steve, we have somewhat of a problem. Please don't interrupt me,' she said as Steve started to open his mouth, 'I know your wife seems all friendly again and normal, but she is far from this. Ellen is not herself at this time, she is being possessed by the ghost of old lady Rimbauer. The only reason that she was acting this friendly, is because she felt my presence, she knows me and what I can do, so she is careful to act. You have to pretend like you don't know my true intentions here just like you did before, because otherwise you will get a ghost as your enemy and trust me this ghost is not one that you want haunting you. To be even clearer, she will murder you if she has to. However, I noticed something rather important, she is pregnant. You didn't tell me this.'

As she stopped talking and looked sternly at him, Steve knew it was his time to talk now. 'It completely slipped my mind to tell you this. Is this a problem? And what do we do now? Can you save us? Will you save us? How long will it take? I don't know for how long I can lie to her without her knowing my true intentions, perhaps she already knows I was lying to her. And is it just Ellen Rimbauer's ghost that is our problem, or is there more going on here?'

'First, yes Ellen's pregnancy makes it more difficult, because I'm sure you don't want to lose the baby. However, this might be difficult even though I'll do my best to save it. As for what we do know, for now we will wait and I will observe first before I act. I don't know how long it will take yet, but not just a day, because Rose Red has grown stronger than ever before. It might be that Ellen already knows that both of us have returned here to bring her down, but for now we should appear ignorant to that. And let's say that Ellen Rimbauer's ghost is our greatest problem since she has most influence through your living wife and as long as she stands strong, there are more things we should be cautious about then just Ellen. Because Rose Red is only a house, but it is a house with many spirits that it has captured to strengthen it. Both of us must be careful, but at the same time act normal. As soon as I know enough, we will go into action. Don't talk to me about any of this inside the house, because the walls of this house truly have ears and hear everything to pass on to Ellen, so only here in the garden we speak of this.'

Chapter 15: Dark encounters


End file.
